University of Iowa

Eric Goodman

Eric Goodman was born in Brooklyn and educated at Yale and Stanford.  For many years he directed the creative writing program at Miami University in Oxford Ohio.  He also founded Miami’s Low-Residency M.F.A. and directed it from 2015-2018.  Goodman’s five previous novels include Twelfth and Race, Child of My Right Hand, and In Days of Awe.  He’s written episodic television, rock and roll lyrics, and more than 200 essays and stories that appeared in publications including North American Review, Travel and Leisure, LA Times Traveling in Style, Saveur and Glamour. Goodman lives in upstate New York and Sonoma County with Susan Morgan, who lent her name and family history to the narrator of his sixth book, part novel, part memoir: Cuppy and Stew: The Bombing of Flight 629, A Love Story, which will be published in May, 2020, by IFSF Publishing.

Instructor Events

Write Funny to Me

Weekend June 15 to June 16 2019
Instructor(s): 
Eric Goodman

This weekend workshop is designed for prose writers of all levels, scribblers of fiction or creative nonfiction who would like to learn how to be funny, or in many cases, funnier, on the page. Whether a writer’s intentions are ultimately serious or light-hearted, being able to make readers laugh is a sure way to attract and to hold their attention. If a writer can amuse readers they’ll follow you straight to the cash register. Just ask Sedaris. This class will be generative, beginning with short readings and exercises.

The Final Draft: On Finishing and Knowing When You've Finished Your Novel

Weeklong June 16 to June 21 2019
Instructor(s): 
Eric Goodman

This is an advanced novel writing workshop. It is designed for students who are fairly far along in or have finished the draft of a novel. Each student will submit up to fifteen pages—preferably the first fifteen, but not necessarily—to be considered in workshop. We will discuss, as a group, how to go from rough draft to final draft.